Erin Meade, 22, looked at the group of musicians before her, nodded her head and made a slight, downward motion with her baton. What followed was not the clean start that the Old Mill Middle School-South band director had hoped to hear, but a mixture of sounds as some of her fellow music teachers began playing their instruments and others tried to catch up. Instructor David Barg signaled for Meade to stop. He quickly analyzed Meade's performance and explained why the group hadn't been able to start on cue. Meade and more than 20 other school band and chorus directors are honing their conducting skills at an Anne Arundel Community College workshop this week held by Barg, a New York guest conductor who specializes in leading youth ensembles.

A lead attorney in a multimillion-dollar settlement against Johns Hopkins Medicine said Friday that some clients complained to medical staff about improper exams before the internal investigation that uncovered illegal filming of female patients by gynecologist Nikita Levy. "All I know, and I'm taking the word of certain people who were patients, was at some point in time or some points in time, patients made complaints to hospital personnel," said Baltimore attorney Jonathan Schochor.

The Baltimore Opera Company's season-opening production of Rossini's rarely staged The Siege of Corinth is about to plunge audiences into anxious issues of love and duty amid a messy war between Greeks and Turks. Pamira, daughter of the besieged Greek governor, will be torn between two ever-so-conflicting matrimonial prospects - a young Greek officer and the leader of the Turkish invaders. The poor dear won't know which way to turn for guidance and inspiration, but the soprano portraying her will.

Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith has been assigned an Oct. 7 court date at Towson District Court for his misdemeanor disorderly conduct case, according to Baltimore County police spokesman Shawn Vinson. Smith was charged with failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order of a law enforcement officer on July 12 when he was arrested by police and given a citation following an incident at The Greene Turtle in Towson. According to Maryland criminal law code Section 10-201 governing disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct, which includes willfully failing to obey a reasonable and lawful order from a law enforcement officer, those convicted of violating this law are subject to a maximum punishment of 60 days in jail or a fine not exceeding $500, or both penalties.

WHEN A state commission avoids conducting its activities in public, alarm bells should sound in the governor's suite. When that panel goes to great lengths to violate even the spirit of the state's Open Meetings Law, Gov. Parris N. Glendening should be seriously concerned.Yet he has allowed the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs to mock the state's sunshine law and hide in the shadows of legal technicalities.The commission doesn't want to discuss in public how or why it decided to recommend to the governor that the Piscataway Conoy Confederacy & Subtribes be recognized by the state as an Indian tribe.

Were it not for the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Tamas Vasary would have made his conducting debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra long before tonight's All-Mozart Summerfest program. The Russian tanks that crushed his country's freedom fighters steered Vasary away from conducting and into a career as a pianist."I have wanted to conduct since my very first concert at the age bTC of 8," says Vasary, 62. "I played a Mozart concerto, but throughout the evening I imagined I was conducting everything!"

Taste is conducting its first reader survey to find out what Baltimoreans like to cook and eat. The survey is at www.sunspot.net/tastesurvey (there is no period after the address). The deadline for responding is Saturday. We'll print the results in a coming issue of Taste.

THE PEABODY CONSERVATORY today announced the appointment of Hajime Teri Murai, a highly regarded 37-year-old conductor and teacher, as music director of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.Murai, known as Teri, comes from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. He created some excitement in December when he conducted the Peabody orchestra's 90 musicians in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 and other works.The orchestra has been without a fulltime resident director since Peter Eros left several years ago, but it was praised for its concerts in the Soviet Union in 1987.

Massimo Freccia, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's musical director in the 1950s who went on to make numerous critically acclaimed recordings, died of a respiratory ailment Tuesday at his home in Rome. He was 98. Mr. Freccia recorded widely and was a well-known figure in Baltimore's musical and social scene for the six years he lived in the area. Born in Florence, Italy, he grew up playing the violin with a group of friends. His father wanted him to became a lawyer, but he studied conducting instead in Vienna, Austria, and led orchestras in Budapest, Hungary, for three years.

A Cleveland Browns fan who uploaded a video of himself apparently urinating on former Ravens owner Art Modell 's grave last month has been charged with disorderly conduct in a cemetery, Baltimore County police said. Paul S. Serbu, 61, of the first block of Meadowcrest Dr. in Franklin, Ohio, was issued a criminal summons last month ordering him to appear in court to face the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail and a $500 fine. He was identified by police Tuesday.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. had a $3.8 billion economic impact on the Baltimore region last year, according to a study conducted for the utility. The report, prepared by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Foundation, said BGE supported nearly 8,700 jobs last year. That includes 3,035 people directly employed by the company, jobs at contractors and the ripple effect of both groups spending their paychecks. The Economic Alliance said BGE's economic impact was on par with the effect of some entire industries, such as computer systems and design services.

Angelo Gatto spoke softly and carried a small baton, but the slender 92-year-old conductor had no trouble getting respect from the musicians of the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsing for Saturday's milestone concert. The milestone is Gatto's final concert as music director of the orchestra, which he founded 50 years ago. During that time, he mentored an estimated 3,000 students from the area, inspiring many to pursue musical careers. Alumni can be found in such major orchestras as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and on podiums leading ensembles of their own. To the players rehearsing at the Center for the Arts on the Catonsville campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, Gatto offered his trademark instruction: "Don't just play notes.

Republicans in Congress lost no time in condemning President Obama's commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last week as further proof of his weakness and vacillation in confronting America's foes. But in fact, Mr. Obama's talk was a reasoned argument for restraint when it comes to how American economic, diplomatic and military power should be employed to advance our interests in a rapidly changing, complex world. The GOP may claim it has a better idea, but we have yet to hear it. If there was an overarching theme to the president's talk it was that America must be prepared to meet the challenges confronting it through a variety of means, with military force being only one of them - a position he neatly summed up when he told the cadets "just because we've got the best hammer in the world doesn't mean every problem is a nail.

Navy Cmdr. Reid Wiseman spent 21/2 years preparing to travel 220 miles above Earth's surface, live six months in cramped quarters and walk in space. That doesn't mean he isn't a little scared. "There are moments when the adrenaline just crushes you," the Cockeysville native said in an interview from Star City, Russia, where he is training to launch May 28 aboard a Russian ship. "Holy smokes, I'm getting on that rocket in 21/2 weeks, and this time next month I'll be floating on the space station going 18,000 mph. It's still a little bit unbelievable.

Well, that was exhilarating. The Peabody Symphony Orchestra's concert Thursday night delivered some impressive sonic power, with the near-legendary Leon Fleisher providing the ignition. Most celebrated as a pianist of uncommon insight, Fleisher began conducting decades ago when, due to focal dystonia, he lost use of his right hand. He brings to the podium the same striving for musical honesty and communicative depth that has always characterized his keyboard work (one- or two-handed)

Is your group or organization conducting a holiday home tour? Or sponsoring a holiday craft and gift show? We're compiling a listing of festivities to be published in late November. Please mail information about your event by Nov. 7 to Lori Sears, Home & Family section, The Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278, or fax 410-783-2519.

A snowy winter kept the state's brush fire season at bay into March, but now Maryland forestry officials are conducting controlled burns to prevent accidental blazes later this spring. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is conducting burns at Sandy Point State Park and on Hart-Miller Island on Thursday, officials said. Trained forest service crews set the fires using torches fueled by a solution of diesel and gasoline, said Monte Mitchell, state fire superviser with the natural resources department's forest service.

Howard County will move ahead with the launch of its new regional transit agency this summer despite a legislative decision in Annapolis to withhold state funding from the operation until it is studied further. David Nitkin , a county spokesman, said riders using Howard Transit and other local bus services "will keep getting the best service possible," even if that means the county has to temporarily foot the bill while waiting on the state. "We can and we will work to minimize the effects that this funding delay will have on customers," Nitkin said.